Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces are surrounding the house of the top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, the BBC reports.
"I said last night that our forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip. They are now surrounding Sinvar's house," Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement.
"His house may not be his fortress and he can escape, but it's only a matter of time before we catch him," Netanyahu added.
As Frank Gardner reports for the BBC, Sinvar has disappeared.
Thousands of Israeli soldiers, supported by drones, electronic listening devices and human informants, are trying to discover his whereabouts.
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council on Wednesday that the war between Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip "could worsen the existing threats to international peace and security", Reuters reports.
Guterres invoked the rarely used Article 99 of the founding UN Charter, which allows him to "bring the attention of the Security Council to any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security."
"We face a serious risk of the collapse of the humanitarian system. The situation is rapidly deteriorating into a disaster with potentially irreversible implications for the Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region," Guterres wrote in a letter to the 15-member council.
"Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs," he said.
At least 10 men and women freed by Hamas were sexually assaulted or abused while detained in the Gaza Strip, the doctor who treated them confirmed today, Israeli media reported.
A doctor who treated some of the 110 hostages freed by Hamas during the week-long truce with Israel did not provide further details and spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the identity of the hostages.
The doctor's statement confirms the testimony of a group of freed civilians who, during yesterday's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke about the sexual abuse they experienced or witnessed.
Aviva Siegel, who was released from Hamas captivity last Sunday and whose husband, an American citizen, is still in captivity, reportedly said during a meeting yesterday that she saw some women being sexually assaulted.
Others said during the meeting that both men and women were sexually assaulted.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller hinted yesterday that Hamas refuses to release some hostages because it does not want them to testify about the sexual abuse they experienced while in captivity.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has rejected accusations that its members committed sexual offenses.
About 240 Israelis and foreigners were forcibly taken into the Gaza Strip by Palestinian extremists during an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1.200 people, mostly civilians.
The Israeli army immediately responded with a fierce bombardment of the Gaza Strip and later, on October 27, with ground operations.
During a week-long truce in late November, based on an Israel-Hamas deal brokered by Qatar, 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis, dual nationals and foreigners, were freed in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Hamas is now ruling out any possibility of releasing the hostages unless Israel permanently halts its attack on Gaza.
(BETA)
The BBC has obtained evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the October 7 Hamas attack.
Two Palestinians were killed overnight in clashes with Israeli forces in the Fara refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian news agency VAFA reported.
The continuation of fighting in Gaza has intensified the hunger crisis in Gaza, the humanitarian agency of the United Nations announced.
The World Food Program of the United Nations announced that they covered only about 250.000 people during the seven-day pause in the fighting, reports the BBC.
They also emphasize that the distribution of aid is now "almost impossible" and that the continuation of the conflict "endangers the lives of humanitarian workers".
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and the topic was Blinken's recent visit to the Middle East and US diplomatic efforts in that region.
This was announced by the State Department.
Reuters reports that the two stressed the importance of building on progress made on key issues at a summit between the heads of state in California in November.
Israel's military will have to maintain open security control over the Gaza Strip long after the end of the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
As AP writes, with that comment, Netanyahu suggested a renewed direct Israeli occupation of Gaza, which the United States of America opposes.
He said at the press conference that Gaza will have to remain demilitarized, and that only the Israeli army can provide that.
"No international power can be responsible for that. I am not ready to close my eyes and accept any other agreement," Netanyahu said.
As reported by Reuters, he previously stated that there is currently no possibility for the hostages, who are still being held by the Hamas group in Gaza, to return home.
Netanyahu met with the families of hostages previously released by Hamas.
Several family members who attended the meeting bitterly criticized the Israeli government, according to Reuters.
(MINE)
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